Escape
by Sorflakne
Summary: [SatAM] A look into the young Freedom Fighter's journey into the Great Forest from a city under attack.


Escape

by Sorflakne

Legalities: Of course, I don't own the characters portrayed here; Sega, Archie, and DiC do.

Note: This story takes place as if the Blast to the Past SatAM episodes haven't yet/never occurred. As such, a few details are changed around.

------

The capitol of the Acorn Kingdom was in ruins. Smoke from dozens of fires blotted out the sky, and new ones were being started by bombs dropped from automated stealth bombers that circulated the city, obliterating the white marble buildings until not even the road network could be used to distinguish one area from another. In the wake of the bombing runs, huge robotic machines, themselves automated as well, crawled across the ground, gathering up rubble to be reprocessed and dispensing premade structures and setting the framework for larger buildings that would be constructed at a later date. The city was being systematically destroyed and rebuilt at an astounding yet terrifying rate.

One of the few buildings to escape the devastation was the royal palace, which rose like a ziggurat several hundred feet above the ground, but even it was not exempt from the rebuilding. Already the first two hundred feet of the structure had been ringed by a steel framework, and at first glance, it appeared that the building would eventually be cased inside a sphere of metal. Hover units continually brought in more girders, sheet metal, and other supplies to continue the construction.

And the citizens of the once fair city? Those who had not been already enslaved were either being rounded up in the streets by their former friends or waiting to be put through the roboticizer. Few escaped the city without being recaptured by patrolling robots, and of those who did, even fewer made it beyond the pre-set radius of a perimeter of gunships. The city had been taken completely by surprise, and there had been no time to mount even a weak resistance.

------

One hundred yards from the tree line of the Great Forest, and seven miles from the city, six figures stood in the tall grass of a hillock, watching the destruction of their former home near its completion. They had been among the lucky few to escape after the attack had begun, and only because of Rosie's extensive knowledge of the secret tunnels that ran just below the city streets. She had spirited five children out of the palace, mere seconds before they could be captured, and was leading them to the only safe haven she knew of: Knothole. Even then, she was not sure it had escaped detection.

Rosie looked down at the children, keeping close check on their reactions, hoping they still had the strength to keep moving. All five were set on watching the city burn, and though none displayed it, she knew that this event would affect them for the rest of their lives. For now though, she was concerned with getting out of sight. Already, hovercraft were beginning wide patrols of the areas surrounding Mobotropolis in search of an survivors, and Rosie knew that the trees would be their best cover.

"Come children, we must be going," she said, turning away from the destruction. She was finding it difficult to hold back the tears.

Sally, daughter of King Acorn, who had gone missing shortly after the initial attack, looked up at her. "Will we ever go home?" she asked, her eyes laced with fear and uncertainty.

Rosie hesitated. "I don't know, child," was all she could say. "But we can't stay here, we have to get to the trees," she said, motioning the kids to follow her.

They had not gone more than a few yards when Rosie looked back and saw a hedgehog, Sonic, still on the hillock facing the city. Motioning the others to wait, she went to Sonic's side and put a hand on his shoulder. The normally hyperactive, impatient youngster looked up at Rosie.

"Unc..." he began, "I'm never gonna see him again, am I?" "Unc" was his uncle Sir Charles Hedgehog, one of Mobius's top scientists. He had also gone missing during the battle, shortly after the king.

"You will one day," Rosie replied, leading him away to the others. She had to give the kid something to hang on to, something to keep him going. Telling Sonic that Charles was more than likely gone would not help at all.

They continued wordlessly into the trees ahead of a roaming patrol, and began walking down a camouflaged path. After several minutes, they came to an ordinary-looking cottage. Without hesitating, Rosie went up and opened the door, and motioned the children to follow.

Inside, a thin layer of dust coated everything. It did not appear anyone had lived here in some time, if it ever had been occupied. Bunnie, Sally's best friend, kicked a wad of dust into the air, watching it swirl in the faded light. "This place is yucky," she said. I don't wanna be here," she said, making a face.

"Is this being Knot-hole?" Antoine asked. He brushed furiously at the dust that was on his pressed uniform that Bunnie had kicked up. The son of a general, he was already ingrained with a military attitude, but he was a jumpy, nervous Mobian.

"No," Rosie said. She went over to a far wall, and began pulling various books from a bookshelf. Rotor, a friend of Sonic's, and the son of an engineer who had worked with Sonic's uncle, walked over to her.

"What're you looking for, Ms. Rosie?" he asked.

Rosie continued pulling books from the shelf. "A door," was all she said.

Rotor shrugged and scanned the shelves of books he could see. It was not long before he noticed a book titled, _Modern Applications of Shaft Mining._ Himself interested in engineering, Rotor tried pulling the book from the shelf, but it jammed about halfway off the self, and a loud click could be heard from behind the wall. The bookcase swiveled out slightly.

Rosie looked down at the walrus with a raised eyebrow. "Outstanding," she said as she swung the bookcase so it was perpendicular to its original position. Beyond lay a tunnel that led into the darkness. Rosie flipped a switch, and a series of spaced out lights luminated the darkness. "Come now, we haven't much time," she ordered, motioning.

"Oh ma stars, this's scary," Bunnie whispered nervously as she approached the tunnel.

"It's only for a short ways, dear," Rosie said.

"And then we're in Knothole?" Sonic asked.

"Not exactly," was the reply.

"Man, I hate walking," Sonic grumbled as he entered the tunnel.

Once everyone was inside, Rosie swung the bookcase back and, taking an iron bar leaning against the wall, wedged it into a joint at the base of the bookcase. "That should prevent us from being followed," she explained.

They set out down the tunnel. It turned out to be only 150 yards in length, and ended at a door that was set in the ceiling with a set of rusted iron rungs leading up to it. Climbing them and pulling at a sliding bar in the door, Rosie forced it open and, after a quick look, pulled herself up. One by one, she helped the children up. Their exit was a rundown shack that was missing half of its roof.

Behind them, Rosie shut the door and set a rotted rug over it to conceal its location. She motioned for the children to sit down and rest. "We should be safe here for a short while," she said.

"This is Knothole?" Antoine asked, nervously looking around.

"No, we've still a ways to go," Rosie replied. Sunset was approaching, and though the night would offer even more cover from patrols, the Great Forest was not a place Rosie wanted to be caught in after dark.

The sudden sound of jet engines made them all jump, but within seconds, the unidentified craft had passed by, continuing its patrol.

"Will they find us?" Sally wondered aloud.

"Nah," Sonic replied. "Even if they did, they still couldn't catch me." Sonic took pride in boasting that he was "the fastest thing alive", and though his friends would never admit to it, he was more than likely right.

"Maybe, but what about us?" Rotor asked.

"Huh? 'What about you?'" Sonic replied.

No one said anything, but it dawned on Sonic. "Oh," was all he said before looking away, embarrassed at his own words.

They sat in silence for several more minutes before Rosie stood. "We best be moving on, I want us to get to Knothole by nightfall."

In wordless agreement, the kids filed outside and followed her on a trail so faint that even Rosie, though she had been trained in tracking as part of her job when she had been appointed Sally's nanny, had trouble discerning the trail from animal paths.

The small party continued on for an hour or so, Rosie leading the way with the kids in tow. Though they had a lot of resilience, the children were beginning to show their fatigue, and though Rosie wanted to allow them to catch their breath, to do so would be a loss of valuable time.

They finally did stop in a small clearing. Here, the canopy of branches overhead was so thick that little light made it to ground level. Rosie looked around uncertainly. In the dense foliage, it was easy to lose one's sense of direction, and without any tools or supplies, getting lost was not an option.

Sally came over to Rosie. "Are we lost?" she asked.

Rosie shook her head. "No, dear. Just trying to get my bearing is all."

Sally was about to reply when a faint shout suddenly floated on the air. Eeveryone turned in the direction it came from, and seconds later, the sound of laser fire could be heard.

"Oh ma stars!" Bunnie gasped, and she ran over and clutched Sally in terror. The two youngsters froze in place.

"We have to leave, now!" Rosie ordered. "This way!"

They prepared to run, but Sonic turned in the opposite direction.

"Sonic, what-?" Rosie demanded.

Sonic turned to her, fire in his eyes. "No way am I running," was all he said.

Before Rosie could stop him, Sonic was off like a shot, tearing a path indiscriminately towards the source of the laser fire.

Sonic tore through the underbrush, not feeling the brush as it slapped against him as he ran. He soon broke out into another clearing. The scene that greeted him was four of the soldier robots, Sonic had heard them be called 'SWATbots', which were firing at a fallen tree trunk.

Without stopping, Sonic issued a battlecry, "Yo, SWATbutts!" before plowing into the nearest one, sending it flying into the bot in front of it. The remaining bots turned and began firing at the blur that ran circles around them so fast, their targeting computers could not get a steady lock on him. In the end, one of the bots ended up hitting its companion, blowing it apart. Sonic suddenly stopped and faced the remaining bot.

The SWATbot raised its blaster arm, and Sonic was about to jump away when a sudden cry from behind caused Sonic to pause. The bot tried turning to meet this new threat, but was decapitated by a blade before it could rotate. The half-dome head slid off the humanoid body, and the body slowly toppled over.

Sonic looked at this new figure, a feline, that had dispatched the last SWATbot. He instantly recognized him as a royal guard from his uniform, and because of the gold acorn signet that clasped his dark crimson cloak to his shoulders, something only the king and his royal guards were permitted to wear. His weapon was a long bladed glaive that stood about a foot taller than he did, and its highly polished blade shined even in the dim light.

They stared at each other for several seconds, sizing each other up, before the guard lowered his weapon. "I guess I owe you a thanks," he said.

Sonic was still a little dazed from hitting the SWATbots so hard, but just grinned and crossed his arms. "No sweat," he said, wavering a little.

A crashing sound came through the trees, and the guard spun around, weapon ready to face a new threat. Instead of more SWATbots, Rosie ducked through the brush and into the clearing. The guard must have recognized her, because he quickly lowered his weapon and went over to her. He bowed his head slightly in greeting. "Rosie! The Princess, is she...?" he began.

Rosie had a blank look on her face, but soon understood. "She's safe. I managed to get her and several other children out after the attack began."

The guard sighed and looked up at the darkening sky. "Then not all was lost."

"How did you come to be out here, chased by those abominations? And who are you?" Rosie abruptly asked.

"I'm Cat. No sur-title, just Cat." He replied. Then he began his account. "Shortly after the attack began, other members of the guard, who were barricading the interior of the palace, noticed that the bots were rounding everyone up and bringing them into the palace dungeons, or wherever they could be detained," Cat began. "When it was made known, our CO organized us to lead groups out of the city through the back alleys and the sewer tunnels. When we began, there were twenty-three of us leading seven groups of ten to twenty people out, taking various paths so if we were discovered, the entire operation would not be compromised."

Rosie nodded slowly while listening, and Sonic leaned in so he could hear, trying to understand what Cat was saying.

"Unfortunately," Cat continued, "though the royal guard put up a sound diversion at first, so we could have some breathing room, the operation was discovered. My group was the last to make it out of Mobotropolis, the fourth one. The other three, from what my companions and I could discern over radio chat, was that two of the teams were cut off by SWATbot patrols, and the last one was just outside the city limits when they were set upon by hovercraft." Cat hesitated. "There was no word from them after their initial distress call."

Rosie had gone pale, Sonic mimicking her. "Did they get away?" Sonic blurted out.

Cat looked down at him, unsure of what to say. "I don't know, kid." He looked around. "We can't stay here. Knothole's still about an hour's march from here, provided we don't rest."

"We'll have to retrieve the other children," Rosie said, regaining her composure. "They should be a short distance that-"

A small figure suddenly jumped out of the undergrowth, followed by another, and another, and two more, and came running up to the surprised Mobians. "We're right here!" Sally exclaimed, jumping up and down a few times, the others doing likewise.

"How long have you been listening?" Rosie suddenly demanded, an edge to her voice.

Sally instantly stopped, as did the others. She looked down at the ground and answered timidly, "We only just got here, we didn't hear anything, but is Knothole really that close?"

Rosie eased up somewhat. "Yes...it's about an hour from here." She looked at Cat. "What about the rest of your party? Are they nearby?"

Cat shook his head. "No, when the bots suddenly appeared, I gave them orders to get away fast, and not look back. If anything, their almost to Knothole by now."

"Then we best be moving too then. Rotor, leave those alone," Rosie said, noticing the boy had taken an interest in the fallen SWATbots.

Rotor stood up from his examination. "Awww," he groaned, but he did as he was told.

"I got two of 'em," Sonic boasted as they started walking.

"Nuh uh, no way," Rotor replied.

"How could little ol' you beat up 'un one've them nasty things?" Bunnie asked.

While Sonic told his story, much to Rosie's disapproval, Antoine had taken a different interest. Running up so he was alongside Cat, he looked up at him. "My father, did you see my father anywhere?" he asked.

Cat looked at Antoine for a few seconds before recognition dawned on him. "You're Pierre d'Coolette's boy?" Cat was taken aback. "You've grown some since I last saw you." Pierre d'Coolette was the Captain of the Guard, one of King Acorn's most trusted generals, placed in command of his personal bodyguard.

Antoine shrugged. "But Father," he persisted. "Did he make it out?"

Cat looked away, searching for an answer. He could not tell the kid the truth, he would not understand. Finally, he found something. "Um...last I saw of him was when he was briefing us on how to get people out of the city. After that, he and a squad went to reinforce one of the palace gates." He stopped there.

Antoine considered this, and it seemed to satisfy him. He fell back with the other children, who were now avidly listening to Sonic's latest exploit.

An empty look remained on Cat's face, one that Rosie noticed. She came up on his other side and asked quietly. "I assume that's not what really happened to Pierre?" she asked. Being Sally's nanny, she had come to know those who frequented the same areas of the palace as the royal family, and the Captain of the Guard was no exception.

Cat shook his head. "No, that was true for the most part," he whispered back. "But I couldn't tell him what happened when they reached that gate."

Rosie was silent, already guessing what had happened.

"They got there just as the gate was breached." Cat continued. "Put up a hell of a fight, from what we could hear over radio, and from what we saw when it ended."

Rosie looked at him, an eyebrow raised.

Cat hesitated. "To avoid the SWATbot raiding parties, we scaled the palace walls for the last one hundred or so feet into the palace gardens, not far from the gate where Pierre had gone. At the time, we weren't aware just how bad it had become, and we were planning to divert course and help barricade the gate, but when we reached the plaza where the fighting was, we could see that we were too late. Pierre's squad members lay dead or dying from wounds, and Pierre himself and one mortally wounded guard were all that was left. They were backed up and cornered against the palace wall behind a piece of rubble. They were fighting with blasters at first, but when the SWATbots...god, they never stopped coming!...when they reached them, Pierre drew his saber and started swinging, challenging and screaming at them to try and take him. His companion was quickly taken, but Pierre, he...he wasn't finished. He took out a good number of them before they finally pulled the saber from his hands and..." he paused and looked away.

Behind them, the children did not seem to have taken an interest in the quiet conversation going on in front of them. Cat looked back at Rosie. "They didn't bother taking him alive, or any of the still living squad members." he said simply.

A hand went to Rosie's mouth as she stifled a gasp. "Oh no..."

"Not even a minute later," Cat continued, "we intercepted a transmission from the leader of the attack...someone calling himself 'Robotnik', or something like that...that anyone who resisted capture was to be taken by any means necessary, living or dead."

Rosie had gone white. She looked back at Sonic, Sally, and the others. "How many got out?"

"My group had twelve, counting the other two guards," Cat replied. "I think the largest of the other three groups had fifteen or sixteen in it, guards included."

"There was no one else? What about other cities and settlements?" Rosie asked.

Cat shook his head. "Tried communicating, but no lines could be opened."

They walked in silence for a few minutes before Cat turned and looked at Rosie. "What am I gonna tell Antoine if he starts asking about his father again? Eventually he's gonna see I'm stalling over something. I just don't know how to tell him, he's just a kid."

"He will eventually find out," Rosie agreed. "I don't know what to think either, because Sonic will be asking the same questions about Sir Charles. During the Great War, it might have been easier to explain, but now..."

Cat nodded. "When they're ready to know the truth," he said. "But who knows when that will be."

Rosie looked back at the children, who had fallen silent and were now looking nervously around at the now dark forest, before looking back at Cat.

"Unfortunately, I think they may have to grow up very soon, very fast," she said. She did not have to elaborate; Cat knew what she was inclining.

"If this Robotnik was able to so quickly overtake Mobotropolis, it's doubtful any other city was able to resist, if they were also attacked," Cat mused. Then he turned serious. "But so long as we still live and breathe, we will fight. Whatever it takes, we will get Mobotropolis back."

Rosie only nodded and looked ahead. She knew it would not be an overnight task, futile as it was. It would take months, maybe years, before the city could be retaken. She looked back at the children again to check their condition, and was pleased to see their spirits appeared to have lifted some. They all seemed to have rallied around Sonic, who was trying to walk tall, despite his apparent nervousness. Sally walked next to him, eloquence in her step, with Antoine opposite of Sonic; he had taken it upon himself to act as the princess's protector, much to the amusement of the other kids. Rotor and Bunnie followed right behind, both of them pointing and grinning at Antoine as he tried matching Sonic and Sally's pace.

Rosie could not help but smile. She could not be sure how, but she knew that they would all eventually play a part in what was to come.

"Knothole should be a few minutes from here," Cat announced.

The seven Mobians continued through the darkened forest to what was to become their new home.


End file.
